Raph was doing something he really detested doing. He was finally cleaning his room, and getting more short tempered the longer he was at it. He finally just ended up throwing crap every which way, which ended up just distributing the mess into different areas of the room. Same mess, just in different spots now. Well this was going nowhere. But, grumbling, he kept trying. Why did he have so much crap?

"Would you like some help?" Jewels asked quietly from the door, looking like she wasn't quite sure if she should come in given his current mood.

His frustration quickly turned to embarrassment as he looked around at the mess he was standing in the middle of. "Huh...I guess I do." He admitted sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. "I'm not getting anywhere on my own."

She just smiled calmly at him as she stepped into the room, then wordlessly began to pick up some things off of the floor, looked around for a place to put them then dropped them back to the floor when she couldn't. "This just won't do." She muttered as she placed her hands on her hips. "You've got more stuff than places to put it."

He just looked around, then shrugged. "I guess I'm a bit of a pack rat."

"A bit? You're a whole pack of pack rats." She grinned at him as she went to make the bad, that had somehow gotten all rumpled up while he was cleaning.

"Yeah, that seems about right..." He grumbled as he looked around his room. He really did need to throw some stuff out... He sighed and went to go get some garbage bags.

When he came back he kinda had to stand in the doorway in shock a moment. She was trying to put his weights back onto the racks that held them, and obviously picked one up that was way to heavy for her to carry. Honestly he was surprised she could move it, much less pick the damn thing up. Problem was the stupid thing threw her off balance and she stumbled backwards and was about to fall on her ass until he hurriedly came up behind her and caught her. She fell against him and he quickly reached around her to take the weight from her and tossed it onto the bed, where it bounced back up and crashed to the floor.

Raphael didn't notice the racket, but he did notice the body that was pressed against his and he felt the heat flush to his cheeks before he quickly backed up a step. "You...ahh..." He cleared his throat, damn thing went dry on him all of a sudden... "You ok? Shouldn't be messin' 'round with them things. Drop that on your foot and you're going to steal Bozo the Clown's shoe."

"I'm fine." She turned and smiled up at him. "Just took me by surprise is all. Didn't expect it to be that heavy."

He rolled his eyes at her. "They are weights. Did ya expect them to be light?"

She laughed, and he couldn't take his eyes off of her. Lord her green eyes sparkled so pretty when she laughed... Hell, everything about her was pretty...

She caught his intense stare and looked back up at him. "What?" She asked him, seeming a little confused by the way he was looking at her.

He didn't answer, couldn't answer as his hand reached up and gently caressed her cheek. She remained quiet as her eyes met his. He didn't know what made him do it, but suddenly he found his head moving towards hers, and his lips on her mouth as they shared their first kiss. A kiss that made his knees go all buttery, and made his insides flop around more than a frog on a hot rock. He ignored everything around him, his whole attention was on her...

"Ahem!" Came from his bedroom door and they broke apart as they each jumped about five feet in the air.

Raph spun and found Leo leaning on the door frame with an eyeridge raised. "Don't you know how to knock!" Raph was blushing furiously now, and he hoped his green skin hid it well enough. He knew Jewels wasn't so lucky, her cheeks were beet fucking red.

"Door was wide open." Leo grinned back. "Knocking really is pointless in that scenario."

Raph just glowered at him as Leo kept grinning back. "What did you want?" Raph finally grumpily asked him.

Raph knew it was serious when his brother's face quickly dropped the grin. "Donnie found something that we need to go investigate."

"Like what kind of something?"

"He was able to fish out some information that seems to lead us to one of the Foot's hidden labs. If we want to find out what's going on, we are going to have to pay it a visit."

"Now?"

"Now."

Well, there went spending time with Jewels... "Fine, give me a few minutes to get ready."

A smirk found it's way back onto Leo's face. "And to get a goodbye kiss I imagine..." Leo quickly ducked out of the way of another weight that went flying his way and his laughter echoed down the hallway he disappeared in.

.

.

Jewels was ecstatic. He kissed her. Raph kissed her! She kept playing it back in her mind as she puttered around in her room, and it sent chills down her spine every time she did. He kissed her...

She was humming quietly to herself as she kept cleaning the room, long after he had already left with his brothers. Already it was paying off as she looked around with a small smile. At least you could actually see the floor now... She had everything organized as best she could manage, except the weights...she wasn't even going to think about messing with those again. Didn't want to end up having to steal Bozo's shoes, she chuckled.

She picked up the garbage bags on the floor and noticed her Mom standing in the door way as she looked around. "Looks a lot better already." She smiled slightly.

"Yeah... It was quite a mess."

"Boy's rooms usually are." Mom replied. She gave her happy daughter a grave look then and suddenly Jewels felt a lot less happy. Somehow she knew her Mom was going to say something that wouldn't sit well with her. She began to fiddle with the ties to the garbage bags as her mother let out a pensive sigh. "Jewels...honey...I've noticed that you have grown...close...to them the last few days..."

"Well, yeah. I guess I have." She smiled at her. "Pretty cool bunch. Nice, helpful...can kick some serious butt."

"They are also turtles."

"That's the coolest part!" Jewels grinned.

Her mother didn't return that grin and it slowly faded. "Jewels...how much do you like him?" She straight up asked as her eyes narrowed. The teenager really didn't need her to clarify who 'him' was.

Jewels own eyes narrowed when she figured out where this conversation might be going. "A lot." She replied shortly.

"More than just a friend?"

"And if I did?"

Mom just closed her eyes and shook her head softly. "I forbid it." She told her daughter quietly.

The happy mood Jewels was in earlier dried up at that point as she took in her mother's words. "What?"

"Honey...I don't want you seeing him...like that... Friends is fine, but you can't seriously think that a relationship would be ok...do you?"

"Why wouldn't it be!" Jewels almost yelled back. "He's kind, he cares, sure he's a little rough around the edges and short tempered..."

"He's also a turtle!" Mom's voice also rose up a few notches.

"What does that have to do with anything!"

"It has to do with everything! I won't have my daughter dating an animal!"

Jewels eyes grew wide. "Is that how you see them?" She whispered, suddenly very disappointed at her Mother's shortsightedness. "After everything they have done for us...that is how you still see them?"

"What they did doesn't change what they are, Jewels." Her mother snapped back.

"And it's that mentality that forces them to hide down here! I don't give a damn if he is a turtle or not!" Mom's eyes grew wide at her language and tone. She was about to say something about it but the girl didn't give her a chance. "I like him, he likes me and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it! I see in them more than what they are, I see a gentle giant that is deserving of my affection! And for the first time I see that I made the right choice in placing my trust and you tell me to back off just because he is a turtle?" Her eyes narrowed as tears spilled out of them. "You want to know what I say to that? Fuck you, Mom!" And she dropped the bags and pushed past her stunned Mother and ran.

"Jewels!" Her mother called from behind her but she wasn't listening. "God dammit! Jewels, come back here!"

She didn't know where she ran too, couldn't really see past her anger and tears. She knew she was in the tunnels, but didn't pay attention which way she ran. The only thing running through her head was how she had made these wonderful friends, friends that did so much for them. And this was how they were repaid. Compared to just big, dumb animals. Never mind the fact that Jewels' heart was rapidly falling for one of them. No, in her mother's eyes he wasn't good enough because he was different. What Jewels couldn't understand was...why did being different have to be a bad thing! Couldn't her mother see past what he was and appreciate who he was? Couldn't she even try instead of condemning the relationship?

Once she had calmed down and had gotten her anger under control she looked around the tunnels she found herself in, and noticed that she was hopelessly lost. "Great..." she muttered as she tried to get her bearings. Suddenly she felt real stupid for just running off like that, and even more stupid for not paying attention to which way she went.

She could just wander around down here until she found something that looked familiar to her, but was worried that she would get even more lost in this underground maze. Another option was to just sit and wait here, but now that she was back to her senses, somewhat, being out alone in these tunnels didn't sit well with her. They were just...creepy... If large turtles could live undetected down here, what else could? And she was in no shape to defend herself from anyone or anything she might run across.

She sighed as she looked at the nearest manhole cover. Maybe if she went topside and found the sewer entrance Leo had slid down into that night, she could find her way back. She knew the general area of where it was. Shouldn't be too hard to find...she hoped.

Shrugging that worry off she made her way up the ladder, and after fighting forever with the heavy cover, crawled out of it once she made sure it was clear. That's all she needed was to come up in the middle of the street or something.

The air was chilly as she made her way back to her old neighborhood and she rubbed her arms to try and warm them up as she walked. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" She mumbled under her breath. "That was so fucking stupid!"

It was with relief when after a long while of searching that she did indeed find the area she was looking for and she smiled at the thought of being back in that safe, underground haven. She knew her Mom was probably going to tear into her when she got back, but she had already decided that she wasn't going to back down from this. She would fight for him, he was more than worth it to her. Another smile found it's way onto her face as she once again played the kiss in her mind and even let out a little giggle of excitement over it.

A giggle that was cut off as a hand covered her mouth from behind as she felt more hands grab her. "Seems like the Boss was right." A voice said. "Watch the tunnel long enough and someone was bound to come back to it. This is the daughter."

"Good. Let's get her back. Maybe we can persuade dear ol' Dad to come out and get her."

"Why not just make her show us where he is?"

"And run into those freaks on their own turf? Joey, you lost your fucking mind. Ain't none of us that stupid..."

The other voice just grunted as Jewels was pulled away from the tunnel she was trying to reach, tied up, and thrown into the back of a car with a man sitting on each side of her. She closed her eyes tightly as they teared up again, not out of anger this time, but out of fear. What did she just get herself into...